The danger to whales and other large marine mammals from oceangoing vessels’ propellers and bows has long been recognized. And efforts are in place to track and curb such ship strikes. But a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science finds that ships are also hitting large numbers of smaller marine animals—which are suffering […]
Originally published in November 1854 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “Sir David Brewster, who supposes the stars to be inhabited, as being ‘the hope of the Christian,’ asks, ‘is it necessary that an immortal soul be hung upon a skeleton of bone; must it see with two eyes, and rest on a duality of limbs? May […]
As physicians from three distinct racial minorities, our lives are defined by an innate tension. On one hand, we experience the privilege of being highly educated professionals, often with power dynamics and societal respect on our side. On the other hand, we are part of a system that provides unequal treatment to people of our […]
Drug manufacturers are racing to create a protective measure against coronavirus without destroying the patient’s immune system Credit: KATERYNA KON GETTY IMAGES; SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN HEALTH AND MEDICINE AUGUST 2020 Advertisement As the public and policy makers anxiously await the arrival of a preventive treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, researchers are racing to […]
The physicists who came to our presentation at the 2010 Neutrino conference in Athens, Greece, probably expected us to put to rest a controversial finding from a decade prior. Instead we left them in a stunned silence. The story begins in 1996, when we revealed data, obtained at the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) at […]
This month a cosmic visitor is gracing the skies. A comet swept past the sun on July 3, and it has since become visible to the naked eye. The rare opportunity to glimpse the chunk of ancient ice from the outer solar system should continue next week, when astronomers hope it will become even brighter. […]
In 2018, the American Cancer Society released an alarming report noting that 20 percent of clinical trials fail because of insufficient patient enrollment and that 56 percent of patients seeking care will not have a clinical trial in their immediate area and another 17 percent will not meet the eligibility requirements. A year later, the […]
Don’t worry about why the chicken crossed the road—the bigger question is whether it’ll make it at all. Every year, millions of animals get killed by vehicles in the U.S. But that road risk has dropped because of the COVID pandemic. “We’re aware of negative impacts on the economy, family relations. I’m sitting in my […]
Toward the end of his life, Martin Luther King, Jr., after agonizing about the Vietnam War in private, began denouncing it in public. Liberal politicians and media, including The New York Times, castigated him, telling him to stick to civil rights. In a 1967 speech at New York City’s Riverside Church, King rejected this criticism […]
In Lidia Morawska’s home city of Brisbane on Australia’s east coast, roadside signs broadcast a simple message: ‘Wash hands, save lives.’ She has no problem with that: “Hand washing is always a good measure,” says the aerosol scientist, who works at the Queensland University of Technology. But the sign might be outdated. Converging lines of […]